Elemental - Now Fallen Enchantress

[Lum]

Elemental just hit beta 3 this weekend, which is where the actual game comes in. I'm going to hammer it a lot this weekend, but so far it looks pretty good. It's pretty explicitly intended to be a modern version of Master of Magic - Stardock tried and failed to get the license for Master of Magic 2 and just decided to make the game anyway without the name.

It has a LOT of features and is crazy deep, at least at first glance. You can get access to the beta by pre-ordering.

http://elementalgame.com/

Done by the same folks that did the GalCiv series, so it will have really good AI and really bizarre game mechanics. Well, the game mechanics look less bizarre this time around. Could be really good. Anyone else looking at it?

[Musashi]

Am now.

[Sky]

Yeah, been waiting to hear how this one pans out.

Kinda bummed that it's Stardock in a way, won't be on steam for cheaps. I mean, GalCiv 2 is $20 still, $40 for the bundle version. I still haven't bought it.

[caladein]

Stardock does sales on Impulse, not as crazy steep as Random-Game-on-Steam but I got GalCiv II - Ultimate Edition (the $40 bundle) for $10 about a month ago.

[Yoru]

Oh god, you can get beta access by preordering? Damnit, there goes fifty bucks.

[WayAbvPar]

Ohhhh that sounds like a serious time eater. Have too much to play to preorder and beta, but would love to hear how things are going (is there an NDA?).

[Lantyssa]

Is it well and truly playable?  I need to know whether to pre-order and write this weekend off or wait for release.

[Yoru]

Is it well and truly playable?  I need to know whether to pre-order and write this weekend off or wait for release.

Just gave it a shot this afternoon. It's very vertical-slicey right now - they have the basis for most of their systems implemented, but a lot of the content (i.e. what we'd think of as "playable") is missing. Seems to be an interesting platform for a game, though, and the cloth-map bit is pretty neat.

[Typhon]

Hmm, I pre-ordered through Impulse, but now I can't see how to get the beta.  Anyone do it this way and know where/how to get the download?

Edit: I figured it out.  Go into the Impulse client and click on the setting button (it's right below the "Impulse" icon, all way to the right).  Click, "Show pre-release versions".  Then you can install it.

[Typhon]

Posting this here to show the current state of the game (buggy).

Game was crashing within 10 minutes of starting, couldn't reliably load a game at all.

Noticed this thread - http://forums.elementalgame.com/386220  and turn off AA, which seems to have helped a lot, can play for about a half an hour before crashing now.

Have to say that I like it, but I'm a freak for the strategy game.

[Merusk]

Oh sweet, the combat is turn-based.  I'd feared it was continuous, like the Total War games which would have killed the whole thing for me.  Excellent.

[Aez]

Unplayable on my computer.  I tough they were aiming for a low end requirements?  I can play civ 4 fine on medium/high setting.  I though I'd be able to play this game on low setting or at least on the cloth map.  Just regular menu and game creation is extremely lagged with graphic glitch 

[Speedy Cerviche]

Ive been following this game's development for over a year now, no way am I gonna ruin my fun by beta testing it.

[Yegolev]

Ive been following this game's development for over a year now, no way am I gonna ruin my fun by beta testing it.

I am thinking similar thoughts.  Also, I Brad Wardell.

[Murgos]

God, I am sooo looking forward to this game.  I've been eying it for maybe 18 months now, I'll definitely pre-order to get an early start to the game but I will wait another month or so first.  Stardock has always been very good about letting people into their games with a pre-order but when they say 'beta' test they mean it.

[tazelbain]

I am even more excited about this game after putting 10 hours into the beta this weekend.

[Typhon]

Update: after making the AA change, I can play for hours without it crashing.  Tactical combat is not yet enabled.  There are oddities with the resources and mobs that spawn - frequently you have a map with no resources, frequently you have mobs that are crazy-powerful, frequently those crazy-powerful mobs will ignore your units unless they randomly move into you by accident.

The game looks interesting, glad I pre-ordered.  Very definitely in a "wait for the next patch" mode now though.

[Tebonas]

Ditto, it still is quite buggy but a nice view of things to come. Loads better than the first playable version!

[Modern Angel]

What sort of release date are they shooting for now?

[Njal]

I can't remember if they've said anything definite about a release date. However they have said that they want to decide on all the systems they want in the game and how they work by July 16.

[Seraphim]

Release scheduled for the 24th of August.

They've mentioned postponing to February if they can't get it ready before first week in August but so far seem to be ahead of schedule.

[Typhon]

From memory the pre-order page, "Approximate Release Date: August 24, 2010".

Seraphim beat me to it.  There is a Frogboy post that says something like, 'it's pretty clear, even in beta 3, that we're done".  So it seems like the August date is still doable.

[Modern Angel]

I'm all over that. I haven't been following it religiously because a) I don't want it ruined for me and b) GalCiv turned me on and then off pretty quickly. I want to go into the new shiny, whether I stick with it or not, with virgin eyes.

[Typhon]

I really like the way they did the tech trees.  I really like that the design calls for you to react to random events.  Civs often turned into a grind in the mid-game, because you knew exactly what was going to happen for 200 turns.  I hope he tweaks it to that "something" pops (tech, resources, lairs) and you just aren't sure what, rather than "something or nothing" might pop.  Being completely resource/tech starved isn't fun.

Edit: "aren't sure what", not "are sure what"

[Murgos]

I really like the way they did the tech trees.  I really like that the design calls for you to react to random events.  Civs often turned into a grind in the mid-game, because you knew exactly what was going to happen for 200 turns.  I hope he tweaks it to that "something" pops (tech, resources, lairs) and you just are sure what, rather than "something or nothing" might pop.  Being completely resource/tech starved isn't fun.

One of the better ways to add middle-late game ambiguity to a 4x that I've seen is Sword of the Stars randomized (weighted by race) tech trees.  It makes playing through multiple times interesting as you have to adapt to what tools the game gives you to work with.

[Dren]

I'll get it after launch.  If this is the same crack candy MoM was for me, I'm in serious trouble.

Just one more turn...

[Kageh]

Thanks for the heads-up, I was completely unaware that something like this was officially in the works! I'm a big fan of the original, spent way too many nights on it back in the day.

[Lum]

One of the better ways to add middle-late game ambiguity to a 4x that I've seen is Sword of the Stars randomized (weighted by race) tech trees.  It makes playing through multiple times interesting as you have to adapt to what tools the game gives you to work with.

Except that with SotS, "interesting" can sometimes equate to "oh look, I can't research point defense, I have no defense against missiles. Whoopsie."

[Murgos]

Except that with SotS, "interesting" can sometimes equate to "oh look, I can't research point defense, I have no defense against missiles. Whoopsie."

That's pretty interesting, I'd say.  I can think of two other (less effective) active methods for defeating incoming missiles without having point defense but yeah thems the breaks.

[Sky]

Outgoing longer-range missiles? :)

(haven't played the game, just poking fun)

[kildorn]

Except that with SotS, "interesting" can sometimes equate to "oh look, I can't research point defense, I have no defense against missiles. Whoopsie."

That's pretty interesting, I'd say.  I can think of two other (less effective) active methods for defeating incoming missiles without having point defense but yeah thems the breaks.

I actually had a game where I didn't roll research on point defense, the little arcing things that can pretend to be point defense, or shields. <3

It was.. a rough game.

[Baldric]

Sots has multiple means of dealing with missiles without point defense, not to mention eventually acquiring it through salvage. 

Back to elemental, the latest beta fixed most of my crash issues, but, as Brad has mentioned, the pacing is off.  It seems especially bad in the research trees.

[Lum]

Outgoing longer-range missiles? :)

(haven't played the game, just poking fun)

Shields is the main defense I think (though point defense is a LOT more efficient vs shields and can also target fighters).

[Merusk]

I'll get it after launch.  If this is the same crack candy MoM was for me, I'm in serious trouble.

Just one more turn...

It's no MoM, but it's fun in its own right.  It could just be because it's beta and some features aren't in yet, but without the tactical combat it's just nowhere near as fun.  I also miss the mana nodes and magical research methods of MoM.  The crystals just aren't the same.

It also really lacks the flavor of MoM, with each faction being a generic human one.  No Dark Elves, Orcs, Barbarians, Draconians, Halflings.. hell they don't even tell you the differences between the factions at select, which means they must be pretty minimal.

The city building has issues right now as it's too easy to run into a "No Food" cockblock with no way to fix it.

I imagine Fans of SMAC will love the unit building options. I've seen some folks on the official forum complain "It's lame, everyone will just have a spear guy, a bow guy, a settler unit and a guy with a mace and some armor."   I haven't played it long enough to see if it plays out that way, but I do think you're limited on the # of unit types you can have at once.  That's a strike against the system vs MoM's list of ~60+ prebuilt units.

Back to elemental, the latest beta fixed most of my crash issues, but, as Brad has mentioned, the pacing is off.  It seems especially bad in the research trees.

Funny, the latest patch has introduced a bug that I can't reload any saved games (not just the old beta saves, new ones) and I've been crashing a lot more. End result: I'm starting a lot of new games but not getting anywhere.

[Lantyssa]

Are there hero units?  I'd keep summoning champions until I could get Warrax.  Allora was another of my favorites.

Sure Warrax had a silly name, but he'd melt your face if you told him that.